Board of Directors
Duncan Black - Chairman
Duncan was appointed Chair of the of the Board on 1 September 2021, following his return to the Board as a Non-Executive Director in October 2020. Duncan previously served as the Chief Financial Officer and an Executive Director of the Company from 2012-2015, and subsequently as a Non-Executive Director. He has been based in Asia for over 20 years working in the power and infrastructure sectors as a project developer, CFO, investment banker and fund manager.
Duncan’s previous roles have included Co-Head of Infrastructure Investment at Eastspring Investments (part of Prudential plc), Asia Head of Acquisitions at Deutsche Asset Management’s infrastructure funds management business, and CFO of CLP Holdings’ Australian electricity and gas utility business, now Energy Australia. Duncan is currently engaged in the asset management of renewable energy power projects in Asia for a leading impact fund manager. Duncan has a BEng (Hons) in Civil Engineering and a PhD in Fluid Dynamics, each from Imperial College, London.
Graham Reid - CEO
Graham was appointed Chief Executive Officer on 18 January 2021. Under his leadership the company has undergone a significant transformation, streamlining operations, redefining its strategy, and aligning resources for growth. Graham has been instrumental in positioning the company to become an Independant Power Producer and one of the largest Battery Energy Storage System developers in the UK.
Prior to joining Ampeak Energy, Graham was CEO of RES Americas, and prior to that CEO of Arcadis Middle East, earlier in his career was the UK Managing Director and an Executive Board member of Hyder Consulting plc. Graham has a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering from the University of Westminster and is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Simon Hirst - CFO
Simon was appointed Chief Financial Officer on 25 April 2022 and has been instrumental in refinancing the company debt, managing cash, maintaining external stakeholder relationships and ensuring strong corporate governance. In the seven years prior to his appointment as Chief Financial Officer, Simon was primarily responsible for all financial and commercial aspects of the MeyGen project including senior creditor compliance.
Prior to joining Ampeak Energy in 2015, Simon gained international blue-chip corporate experience at several organisations including ExxonMobil, Pepsi Cola, Iron Mountain and international power generation company InterGen. Simon is a Chartered Management Accountant and holds a BSc (Hons) from Aston University.
David Taaffe - COO
David was appointed Chief Operating Officer in June 2022, having previously been responsible for project development and delivery since joining Ampeak in 2011. David holds responsibility for Ampeak’s project portfolio, including the origination, strategic development and project financing of the Company’s significant portfolio of Battery Storage projects. In recent years, David has been instrumental in achieving financial close of the AW1 Battery Storage project and establishing Ampeak’s pipeline of a further 4.3GWh of Battery Storage development projects.
Prior to joining Ampeak, David worked for a number of international consultancies and developers and successfully delivered large scale energy projects in Ireland, UK, and New Zealand. David has a BEng (Hons) in Electrical Engineering from University College Dublin.
John Woodley - Non-executive director
John Woodley joined the Board on 22 September 2008. He was at that time co-head of the power and gas related commodity business for Europe and Asia at Morgan Stanley. He founded the very successful US electricity trading operations for Morgan Stanley in New York in 1994, having worked as a power plant operator and then as an industrial marketing engineer for electric utilities.
After ten years with Morgan Stanley in New York, John moved to London to help build the electricity and electricity-related energy business outside the US. John is now based in Switzerland and acted as a senior adviser to Morgan Stanley until Q1 2021. John has a BSc Eng (Elec) from Wits University, Johannesburg, an MBA from Valdosta State University and an MS in Finance from Georgia State University.
Mark Dawber - Non-executive director
Mark Dawber is currently Managing Director of Valencia Energy, a privately owned UK renewable energy generation portfolio, where he holds full accountability for the business, all operations, energy trading, and the development of new projects.
Alongside this, Mark is Co-founder and Chief Energy and Infrastructure Officer of Era4, leading Energy Strategy, site development and delivery for sovereign AI infrastructure.
Mark brings deep operational expertise across the UK power sector, with a track record in technology development and deployment, reciprocating gas engine projects, behind the meter generation, PPA origination and energy trading.
Prior to Valencia, Mark spent over a decade at Viridor across operational, engineering and senior leadership roles, including Head of Power Generation for the national landfill gas estate, where he led a step change in availability, compliance and commercial performance across the portfolio.
Mark is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMgr FCMI) and holds an MBA from Cranfield University and a BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southampton.
